


Babysitting Mishaps

by Copperstown



Series: Moments in the Life of Family Men and Popstars [4]
Category: McFly, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Babysitting, Cute, F/M, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-09
Updated: 2013-04-09
Packaged: 2017-12-08 01:10:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,975
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/755230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Copperstown/pseuds/Copperstown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One Direction somehow ends up babysitting McFly’s kids, and Harry Styles really isn’t sure it’s a good idea.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Babysitting Mishaps

**Author's Note:**

> _Marty: 5 years old_
> 
> _Viola: 4 years old_
> 
> _Athena: 3 years old (turning 4)_
> 
> _Sage: 1 year old_

Exactly how the boys of One Direction end up babysitting McFly’s kids, no one knows. At least, no one in One Direction. It’s not that it’s weird that all the McFly couples want a babysitter at the same time, because at least Harry Styles knows this much: the McFly couples are going out together for the night, without their kids, to take a short break from parenting. This, Harry knows. But he doesn’t understand how all eight set of parents, the siblings, and the decidedly more mature friends that McFly must have, how they’re all unavailable for this particular night.

Honestly, Harry’s best guess is that the boys of McFly want to be cruel and have their immature, child-like friends from One Direction spend a free night babysitting, just for the fun and cruelty of it.

If Tom had called Harry and asked if One Direction could do some babysitting, then he would have asked if there was no other option, because clearly, they shouldn’t be the first choice. Louis can’t even look after himself, Niall thinks with his stomach, and while Liam over thinks everything, he’s not exactly clever. And that’s why they’re in this predicament, because Tom called Liam, and all Liam said was “Sure, we’d love to!”

And it’s not that they don’t all like spending time with Marty, Viola, Athena, and Sage. It’s that Harry’s not sure they can look after them.

“All the kids have to be in bed by eight, even if they start getting fussy about it, which they shouldn’t, they should be tired enough,” Tom says. He’s giving out instructions on how to look after the kids, while Giovanna and Georgia complain about feeling bloated, while Danny reassures them that they both look beautiful (they really do, pregnant bellies and all). Harry’s paying close attention to what Tom is saying, because he’s not sure how much attention the others are paying. “Sage might be more difficult than the others, since he’s so small, but just try to get him to sleep at a decent time. We’ve put a crib for him in the guest bedroom, the other three can sleep in Marty’s room. There’s food in the fridge for them, shouldn’t be too hard to find, and you just need to heat it up. There’s also plenty of food for you, but don’t touch the booze, you’re babysitting.”

“Well, that’s just taking the fun out of it,” Louis jokes with a cheeky smile. Harry hits him for that.

“Thank you, Harry,” Tom says and gives Louis and pointed look. “Diaper changes are disgusting, but Sage still needs them, so sniff his diaper if you think it’s looking heavy. I know it sounds gross, but that’s how it is. If you feel like things are getting wrong, somehow, call one of us immediately and we’ll be back as soon as possible. If everything goes on without a hitch, then we should be back by ten, and the restaurant is only fifteen minutes away. Questions?”

They all shake their heads. Harry feels like his only question would be, “Are you sure about this?” but he doesn’t ask.

“Great. Right then, I think you’re all set, and we’re all set,” Tom says, just as everyone else comes over. Giovanna is holding Marty’s hand as he walks next to her, Danny’s got Athena in his arms, Izzy is holding Viola, and Lara has Sage tucked up on her shoulder.

“This should be interesting,” Harry Judd smirks. Harry Styles isn’t sure how much he agrees.

Izzy showers Viola with kisses before handing her over to her daddy, who also showers her with kisses, and then Viola is handed to Niall. Lara hands Sage to Dougie, who kisses his head once and then passes him on to Louis. Danny hugs Athena tight enough to make her giggle, and then kisses her and pretends to bite her cheek, before she’s handed over to her mum, who kisses her forehead and tells her to be a good girl, and Athena is then handed to Liam. Tom picks up Marty and makes him promise to behave, before he and Giovanna kiss a cheek each, and Marty is put down on the floor again. Then all the parents leave, and then One Direction are standing there with four toddlers.

Harry’s worried as soon as the door closes behind Tom. He looks at Marty, who has his hands in his pockets and messy brown hair falling over his eyes, and he looks cute, but at the moment, he also looks rather scary, Harry thinks.

 

They actually get off to a good start. Niall plays Jedi knights with Marty, where they run all around the house, while Louis and Zayn play princesses with Athena and Viola, and Liam helps Sage learn how to spell their various names with blocks. Harry has appointed himself supervisor, in hopes that things will go better like this, and is sorting through the baby food in the fridge.

That’s how it starts. Unfortunately for Harry’s sanity, that’s not how it ends.

They manage to get the kids fed easily enough, once they figure out what food belongs to which kid. Marty has to tell them very sternly that he does not eat the same food as Sage, because his food is yucky. He eats regular food for big boys. Viola is on board that one as well, but Athena requires softer, smaller foods, and someone has to cut it for her.

After dinner, somehow, things start going wrong. Harry blames Louis.

But he’s not sure what happens. Just, at some point during the evening, Louis and Zayn start trying to mess up the order of things in Tom’s house (which Harry’s not actually sure will annoy Tom as much as they think it will), and while Marty spends a good deal of time on Harry’s side, telling them very loudly to stop, Louis eventually manages to convince Marty to join him and Zayn. Harry’s about to tell them all off when Niall comes over, sandwich in one hand, and points to the living room.

“Liam’s upset, and the girls don’t know what to do, which is making them upset,” he says. At least, Harry thinks that’s what he says, but Niall’s mouth is full of sandwich, so it was kind of muffled.

And since the prospect of two toddler girls crying is a lot more terrifying than the Dynamic Duo of Louis and Zayn, and their sidekick Marty, especially because Marty is actually having fun, Harry leaves them be and goes to check on Liam and the girls. Liam’s sitting cross-legged Indian style, with Viola sitting on his left knee and Athena leaning against his right side, stroking his hair.

“Don’t cry, Liam,” Viola says and strokes Liam’s cheek. He’s not crying, but he does look upset.

“What’s going on?” Harry asks. “Is everything okay?”

“I just,” Liam starts. “Look at them, they’re so cute.”

“Thank you,” Athena says, which makes both Liam and Harry melt into puddles on the floor.

“Yes, they’re very cute,” Harry says when he has composed himself again.

“But one day they won’t be cute,” Liam says, distraught.

“Hey!” Viola protests with a pout, crossing her arms.

“They’ll be beautiful teenage girls, surrounded by horny teenage boys, and they’ll wear miniskirts and tank tops –” Liam continues, but he’s cut off by Viola.

“Boys wear skirts?” she asks. Athena snickers.

“No, the two of you will, and you’ll look gorgeous and sexy, and boys will be falling over each other to get to you, and get with you, and they’ll try to corrupt your innocence!” Liam’s clearly very torn up about this. “And I just want to pause them at this age forever. I don’t want them to be corrupted by hooligans with evil, backstabbing intentions!”

“Liam, you do realize that they’re toddlers, right?” Harry asks slowly.

“But they’ll grow up!” Liam says. Athena hugs his neck in an attempt to comfort him. Harry doesn’t know why it doesn’t work, because he thinks that a hug from a 3-yearold that cute would make everything better.

“I don’t think Danny or Harry would really like to have to deal with toddlers for the rest of their lives, so I think it’s best they grow up,” Harry says.

“But when they do, they’ll be corrupted!” Liam says.

“It won’t happen for ten years or something, calm down,” Harry says. Liam looks like he wants to say something, but he’s interrupted by Niall.

“Does anyone want the last of the pizza from dinner?” he shouts, but doesn’t let anyone answer. “No? I’ll eat it, then.”

“Hold on,” Harry says, freezing on the spot. He looks around frantically and feels a chill run down his spine. “Where’s Sage?!”

No one says anything. They do, however, all stop what they’re doing.

“Isn’t he with his toys?” Louis asks cautiously. “Where we left him?”

“You left a 1-yearold toddler _unattended_?!” Harry seethes. Louis and Zayn both look sufficiently guilty.

Everyone except Liam immediately start sprinting around the house. Liam stays with Athena and Viola, but Marty insists on helping the search party, so he holds Zayn’s hand as they wander around the house is search of Dougie Poynter’s son. Harry thinks he might be going crazy with worry, although that’s nothing compared to what’ll happen to them all if Sage has somehow gotten himself hurt.

Ten minutes later, Niall shouts out, “I found him! In the study!”

Harry races to the study, where he finds Niall on the floor with a slice of pizza in his hand and Sage in his lap. Louis, Zayn, and Marty arrive moments later.

“Thank god,” Louis sighs in relief.

“I think he might need a change,” Niall says, but he doesn’t look willing to test his theory. So Harry does the only thing he can think of doing. He picks Sage up and sniffs his bottom. Which stinks.

“Yep, he needs a change,” he says and hands Sage over to Louis. “You do that.”

“Wait, ew, why me?” Louis protests loudly.

“Because one, you were supposed to be watching him, and two, you left him on his own to go mess up Tom’s house,” Harry says. Niall snorts out a laugh. Zayn’s fighting a smile. The latter is something Harry doesn’t really approve of, given that Zayn has been misbehaving as well. “And you can help him, Zayn.”

“Excuse me?” Zayn squeaks.

“For the same reasons as Louis,” Harry says.

“What about Niall?” Louis asks, pointing at the blond on the floor. “He’s just been stuffing his face.”

“Niall wasn’t supposed to be watching Sage, you two were,” Harry points out.

“Niall was supposed to watch Marty, which we’ve been doing,” Zayn says.

“Niall did watch Marty, but saw that he was in your capable hands and went to get something to eat,” Niall says.

“Go change Sage’s diaper,” Harry says.

“You’re in trouble!” Marty giggles, pointing at Louis and Zayn.

“They are indeed,” Niall agrees.

“Right, Niall, you watch Marty. Louis and Zayn, you get Sage changed,” Harry orders. Louis looks a little grossed out. “I’m going to go rescue Athena and Viola from Liam’s blubbering.”

Rescuing Athena and Viola is actually fairly easy, thankfully. He puts on _Barbie in the Nutcracker_ , which Viola had brought with her, and tells Liam to just sit there and watch it with the girls. Niall and Marty are playing with Marty’s toy cars, and every few minutes, Marty tries to steal Niall’s pizza. He doesn’t succeed. Louis and Zayn express their disgust with diaper changes very loudly in the bathroom, while Harry starts putting everything back in place and cleaning the kitchen.

Once the Barbie movie is finished, it’s bedtime for the kids. Zayn and Louis squeal like preteen girls when they see Athena’s pink My Little Pony night dress, and it only gets worse when they find Viola’s frilly yellow Belle night dress. When Harry can’t get them to give the dresses back to the girls so they can get ready for bed, Viola puts her hands on her hips in a good imitation of her mother.

“Give them back,” she demands sternly. Harry vaguely notices Liam practically melting all over again. Louis hands Viola her dress. She holds it for a moment, then holds it out for Louis again, eyes big and bright and brown. “I can’t put it on myself.”

So Louis helps Viola into her night dress while Zayn helps Athena. Niall has managed to trick Marty into putting on his Star Wars pajamas, and is working hard on tricking him into getting under his Toy Story bed covers.

So Harry and Liam tackle trying to get Sage changed into his pajamas. It’s not as easy as they hoped, because he has less control of his limbs than the other three kids, but Harry and Liam eventually manage it. Liam then takes Sage into the guest bedroom, where the crib has been set up, and walks around with him while he sings a lullaby. It’s not a lullaby Harry has ever heard before, so he thinks Liam might be making up the lyrics as he goes. But it seems to be working, so Harry leaves him to it in favor of checking that Louis isn’t somehow making someone want to stay up way past their bedtime.

The scene that greets him in Marty’s room is adorable.

Niall has managed to get Marty under his covers, and they’re playing with little Star Wars figurines, which is not exactly the point, but Niall seems to have everything under control. And besides, the girls aren’t asleep yet either. They’re both in their little Disney Princess sleeping bags, on each side of Louis, who is sitting cross legged on the floor and reading them a bedtime story. Harry thinks it might be _Winnie The Pooh_ , which is just absolutely, ridiculously adorable.

Harry waits in the doorway, and once Louis has finished the story, he tucks the girls in, and Niall tells Marty to lie down.

“But I’m not sleepy,” Marty protests, but the yawn that follows kind of proves him wrong. Viola, Athena, and Louis all giggle, and Niall raises his eyebrows, clearly unconvinced.

“I think you might’ve just proved yourself wrong, little man,” he says. “Time to sleep so you can grow big.”

Marty grumbles, but he does lie down and gets comfortable in his bed.

“Night kids,” Harry says. The kids all return the sentiment as Louis and Niall join Harry in the doorway. Then Harry turns off the lights and closes the door after the three of them. “Where’s Zayn gotten to?”

“He went downstairs to pack up everyone’s toys, so they’ll be all ready to go when their parents come home,” Louis replies. Liam comes out of the guest room with a baby monitor in his hand, and closes the door behind him with a low sigh. “Did you get Sage to sleep?”

“Yeah, he’s sleeping like a baby,” Liam says and pauses. “Probably because he is baby.”

“Probably,” Harry agrees with an amused frown. “Are you tired?”

“Very,” Liam says.

“Aren’t we all?” Niall says and stretches. “Am I the only one who’s hungry?”

 

The McFly guys and their wives return a little after ten, to see the One Direction boys watching _Barbie in the Nutcracker_ , all of them thoroughly into the plot, and all of them practically sitting on top of each other on the couch, despite the fact that there’s plenty of space.

“No!” Louis shouts. “He can’t steal the necklace, don’t you dare – No! He opened it!”

“But what about Eric?” Zayn says frantically.

“Don’t worry, it has a happy ending,” Liam says soothingly and wraps an arm around Zayn’s shoulders.

“How’d it go?” Tom asks with a smile.

“It went fine. They’re all asleep,” Liam replies.

“Thanks for looking after them, guys,” Harry Judd says.

“Any time, mate,” Liam smiles. Harry Styles is about to protest that he’s not sure they should do this again, but Clara is frantically trying to tell her grandmother about her dream. Also, Izzy chooses this moment to tell Harry that she’s going to get Viola, so could he please get her things from the living room? And Tom has gone to check on Marty, so there’s not really anyone to tell.

Once Izzy has Viola and Harry has her things, they say goodbye to One Direction, Izzy thanks them for babysitting, Harry Styles gives them the Barbie movie that they just finished, and then Harry Judd and Izzy say goodbye to the others, and then they’re gone. Lara and Dougie decide it’s best to sneak out while Sage is still asleep, so they also make a quick leave. Danny and Georgia don’t have a very long trip home, what with them living just a little further down the street, so they slowly pack up Athena and her things, and linger in the doorway when they say goodbye. But with both Georgia and Giovanna very pregnant and very tired, they say goodbye fairly quickly, and Danny wraps an arm around Georgia, who has Athena in her arms, and leads them both home.

“Right, I think that’s our cue to go as well,” Harry says.

“Thanks for looking after the kids,” Giovanna says.

“Without destroying anything as well,” Tom jokes with a smile.

“Any time,” Liam says again. Harry mentally shakes his head very violently. It had been fun, yeah, but for him, it had also been kind of stressful. With Louis and Zayn being up to no good, and roping Marty into joining their mischief, and Sage being momentarily lost, and Liam freaking out over Athena and Viola growing up at some point, Harry thinks he might have had enough of babysitting with his friends like this.

Not that he’d say no immediately if Tom ever asked again.


End file.
